1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to privacy protection for a mobile terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a privacy protection method and apparatus for a mobile terminal that prevent information regarding a counterpart user from being leaked to others.
2. Description of the Related Art
With rapid popularization, mobile terminals have become a necessity of modern life. In terms of functionality, mobile terminals have evolved into multimedia communication devices that can provide basic voice call services, data transmission services, and supplementary services.
When a mobile terminal receives a contact such as a call, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service MMS) message, or an e-mail, it also receives caller/sender identification information. For a call, an SMS message, or an MMS message, the caller/sender identification information may be the phone number of the caller (i.e., Caller ID). And for an e-mail, the caller/sender identification information may be the e-mail address of the sender.
When a contact is received, a mobile terminal determines whether identification information of the caller or sender is stored, and displays, when the identification information of the caller or sender is stored, stored basic information of the caller or sender corresponding to the identification information. For example, when a call is received, the mobile terminal may determine whether the phone number of the caller is stored, and display, when the phone number of the caller is stored, the stored name of the caller corresponding to the phone number.
In the course of using a mobile terminal, the user may wish not to disclose their contacts to others. However, when a contact is received, a regular mobile terminal displays the phone number and/or name of the counterpart. Hence, information on the counterpart may be inadvertently disclosed to others.
During a video call, the user may wish that the image of the user that is seen by the counterpart user is not disclosed to others. In this case, the user may wish that an image other than the image of the user is seen by the counterpart. However, a regular mobile terminal may fail to provide this function.